Time travel is constantly causing headaches in superhero comics, and Jonathan “Superboy” Kent is about to discover this for himself in “Super Sons Of Tomorrow,” a small crossover spread across Superman, Super Sons, and Teen Titans. Superboy is being hunted down by the Batman of Tomorrow, a future version of Tim Drake who recently arrived in the present in the pages of Detective Comics, and Jon needs to be taken out in order to prevent the destruction of Metropolis. Written by the Superman team of Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason, this storyline promises all sorts of time travel high jinks, including the return of Conner Kent when the rest of the Titans of Tomorrow are called in to assist their Dark Knight. Conner hasn’t been seen since before the New 52, and fans of the former Superboy have been clamoring for his return to the DC Universe.
“Super Sons Of Tomorrow” is bringing Conner back in his future Superman iteration, but this opens the door for classic Conner to eventually make his way back into the Super-family. That return is still to come, and Batman of Tomorrow is working solo in this exclusive preview of this week’s Super Sons #11, the second part of the crossover. These kinds of stories need to have heightened stakes to justify multiple titles, and this excerpt highlights Jon’s deadly potential via Batman’s narration. The art by penciler Ryan Benjamin, inker Richard Friend, and colorist Gabe Eltaeb reflects the story’s dark shift, and the bright, animated visuals of the previous issues have been replaced by a more severe, scratchy style. Super Sons has been a very fun title over the past year, but playtime is over with this new story, which forces the boys to grow up by pitting them against the future.